U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Litigation Release No. 17867 / November 27, 2002

Securities and Exchange Commission Obtains Immediate Relief against Thomas Fletcher & Co. Inc. in Connection with Fraudulent Unregistered Offering that Raised over $2.5 Million from Investors

SEC v. Thomas Fletcher & Co. Inc., et al.; 02-9355 CV (S.D.N.Y.)

On November 22, 2002, upon application by the Commission, the Honorable Deborah A. Batts issued an order: (a) temporarily restraining defendants from engaging in further violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws; (b) freezing the assets of Thomas Fletcher & Co. Inc. ("Thomas Fletcher") and Thomas Fletcher & Company Inc. ("TFC"); (c) requiring defendants to provide a sworn accounting of their assets and the monies raised from investors; (d) prohibiting defendants from destroying documents; and (e) allowing expedited discovery. A hearing on the Commission's application for a preliminary injunction and continuation of the asset freezes is scheduled for early December 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an injunctive action on Friday, November 22, 2002 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that Thomas Fletcher conducted a fraudulent unregistered offering that raised over $2.5 million from at least 32 investors. Sergei Voronchenko, the President and Director of Thomas Fletcher and Roman Thaker, the Secretary and Treasurer of Thomas Fletcher, were responsible for a false and misleading private offering memorandum. In addition, an affiliated broker-dealer, TFC, and its registered representatives, Alex Berg, John Donadio, and Padraig McGlynn made oral misrepresentations to investors to induce them to purchase Thomas Fletcher securities.

The Commission alleges that through this conduct, Thomas Fletcher, TFC, Voronchenko, Thaker, Berg, Donadio, and McGlynn violated 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.